The discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 revived public interest in Egyptian history, the 'Curse of King Tut' and the mysterious deaths following the excavation captured the world's imagination. Before long the Egyptian Mummy would join Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman as one of the classic screen monsters.

Boris Karloff (1887-1969) only appears wrapped in bandages in the opening minutes of the film. we see the mummy's eyes open and an arm moving but we don't see him walking just some loose bandages moving on the ground. The next time we see Imhotep it is in the guise of Ardath Bey, with a shrivelled face he is wearing clothes and a fez.

Mummy fans may feel cheated but this classic movie has one of Karloff's great performances aided by superb make-up from Jack Pierce.

Sir Joseph Whemple: "Death... eternal punishment... for anyone who opens this casket. In the name of Amon-Ra... the king of the gods." Good heavens, what a terrible curse!Ralph Norton: Well, let's see what's inside!

Doctor Muller: Burn the scroll, man. Burn it! It was through you this horror came into existence.

IMDB rating 7.3

The Mummy's Hand (1940)

The Mummy's Hand (1940) poster

The Mummy's Hand (1940) Directed by Christy Cabanne. 67mins.

The Mummy (Kharis) - Tom Tyler

Also starring Dick Foran, Peggy Moran, Wallace Ford and George Zucco.

The first of four films featuring Kharis in the Universal Mummy series, Lon Chaney Jr would play him in the sequels.

This underrated film became the template for all subsequent mummy films: The mummy's tomb is discovered, the mummy is reanimated, it starts to kill the desecrators of it's tomb and is protected by some mad priest.

The High Priest:For who shall defile the temples of the ancient gods, a cruel and violent death shall be his fate, and never shall his soul find rest unto eternity. Such is the curse of Amon-Ra, king of all the gods.

One interesting and startling effect is used for the first time in this film, the mummy's eyes are animated pitch black by the special effects guys, see screen shot above,

Tagline - They dared the curse of the ancients... to solve the most amazing mystery ever encountered by mortal man!

IMDB rating 6.1

The Mummy's Tomb (1942)

The Mummy's Tomb (1942) poster

The Mummy's Tomb (1942) Directed by Harold Young. 60mins.

The Mummy (Kharis) - Lon Chaney Jr.

Also starring Dick Foran, John Hubbard, Elyse Knox and George Zucco.

Lon Chaney Jr (1906-1973) takes over the role of Kharis the mummy from Tom Tyler. There are some movie fans who wonder if Chaney really was under the bandages apart from a few publicity shots. Stuntman Eddie Parker was the stunt-mummy in a few scenes.

The story takes place 30 years after the events of the previous film and if that was set in 1940 this film must be set in 1970!

At only 60mins, one of the shortest movies in the Universal horror series.

Tagline - Eyes That Crawl With Madness! Hands That Creep Like Cobras!

IMDB rating 5.5

The Mummy's Ghost (1944)

The Mummy's Ghost (1944) poster

The Mummy's Ghost (1944) Directed by Reginald Le Borg. 61mins.

The Mummy (Kharis) - Lon Chaney Jr.

Also starring John Carradine, George Zucco, Ramsay Ames and Barton MacLane.

Lon Chaney Jr's second mummy film with John Carradine joining in the horror fun.

Despite burning to a crisp in the previous film Kharis was back killing infidels. The funny thing is no matter how fast his victims ran the slow, shuffling, foot-dragging mummy always caught up with them.

In this series Kharis needs a brew made from three tana leaves to keep him 'alive', administered by the high priest, usually played by George Zucco.

Tagline - Nameless! Fleshless! Deathless!

IMDB rating 5.4

The Mummy's Curse (1944)

The Mummy's Curse (1944) poster

The Mummy's Curse (1944) Directed by Leslie Goodwins. 62mins.

The Mummy (Kharis) - Lon Chaney Jr.

Also starring Peter Coe, Virginia Christine and Kay Harding.

The second mummy film of 1944 and Lon Chaney's third and last appearance as Kharis.

This film takes place 25 years after the previous two mummy films and 55 years after the events in The Mummy's Hand, which means this film takes place in... 1995!!

Kharis would next appear in Hammer's The Mummy (1959) and played by Christopher Lee.

A classic Hammer horror starring their top horror stars, Cushing and Lee.

Distributed by Universal studios in the U.S. this isn't really a remake of the 1932 Karloff classic the film is closer in spirit to the 1940s Mummy films. Kharis the mummy kills the desecrators of his tomb and is protected by an Egyptian priest.

Christopher Lee dislocated his shoulder when he bursts through the door of a mansion trying to kill Peter Cushing, the shot was left in the film.

Hammer's second Mummy film has no connection to the first. There are some nice gruesome deaths but the mummy Ra doesn't appear until half the film is over. The film has one original twist and that is one of the main characters turns out to be Ra's brother, cursed with eternal life.

Tagline - It Lives Again To Kill Again!

IMDB rating 5.2

The Mummy's Shroud (1967)

The Mummy's Shroud (1967) French poster

The Mummy's Shroud (1967) Directed by John Gilling. 90mins.

The Mummy (Prem) - Eddie Powell

Also starring Andre Morell, John Phillips and Elizabeth Sellars.

The third Hammer Mummy film and this time it's the mummy Prem who is revived and goes on the usual rampage.

The last Hammer film to be filmed at the old Bray studios, moving to Elstree in 1967.

The 4th and last Hammer mummy film, interesting and unusual horror which does not contain a bandaged covered mummy.

After an expedition unearths the tomb of an ancient Egyptian Queen and the sarcophagus is taken to London, the evil spirit of Queen Tara is awakened and possesses the daughter of the professor who led the expedition and people start to die mysteriously.

Director Seth Holt died of a heart attack before filming ended, he was 47, producer Michael Carreras took over and finished the film.

IMDB rating 5.8

Stephanie Zimbalist and Charlton Heston in The Awakening (1980)

The Awakening (1980) poster

The Awakening (1980) Directed by Mike Newell. 105mins.

The Mummy - Stephanie Zimbalist (possessed by the Mummy of Queen Kara)

Also starring Charlton Heston, Susannah York and Jill Townsend.

Basically a big budget remake of Blood from the Mummy's Tomb. Charlton Heston's daughter is possessed by the evil spirit of an ancient Egyptian Queen and people start to die violently.

The Omen meets The Mummy but the reviews were poor and the film was only a moderate success.

Heston turned down the role of Robert Thorn in The Omen, he wrote in his autobiography that he regretted the decision after Gregory Peck took the part and the film was a smash hit.

Tagline - They thought they had buried her forever!

IMDB rating 4.7

An alien mummy in Time Walker (1982)

Time Walker (1982) aka Being from Another Planet. Directed by Tom Kennedy. 83mins.

The Mummy (Ankh-Venharis) - Jack Olson

Also starring Ben Murphy, Nina Axelrod, Kevin Brophy and James Karen.

A mummy discovered in King Tutankhamun's tomb is re-animated by an alien lifeforce which has attached itself to the mummified corpse. Well it had to happen eventually - mummies and aliens.

This movie featured in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Tagline - For eons they traveled the galaxies. For centuries one was trapped in a Pharaoh's tomb. Now he is free.

Detective Sapir: So let me get this straight. You're telling me there was this two-thousand year-old mummy here, right? But now he's not here. He's gone. Vanished. History. And you're saying you didn't hear anybody come in here or leave, is that right? Can you hear me now? Hello!Night Watchman: I can hear you fine.

IMDB rating 7.0

The Mummy Lives

The Mummy Lives (1993) Directed by Gerry O'Hara. 97mins.

The Mummy (Aziru) - Tony Curtis

Also starring Leslie Hardy, Greg Wrangler and Jack Cohen.

A mummy is obsessed with finding the reincarnation of his long lost love and wreaks vengeance on those who desecrated his tomb.

At one point Anthony Perkins was to star as the mummy with Ken Russell directing.

Tagline - Bound by destiny. Consumed by sin. His vengeance is eternal

IMDB rating 3.3

Tale of the Mummy (1998) poster

Tale of the Mummy (1998) also known as Talos the Mummy. Directed by Russell Mulcahy. 88mins (119mins)

Sequel to The Mummy (1999) with plenty of action and variable special effects, the last sequence with the Scorpion King did not look all that convincing. Dwayne Johnson starred in a spinoff movie titled The Scorpion King released the same year.

Izzy: O'Connell, who the hell you been messing with this time, huh?Rick: Oh, you know, the usual. Mummies, pygmies, big bugs.

Mummy Returns cost $98m and has grossed $433m worldwide

IMDB rating 6.2

Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) poster

Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) Directed by Don Coscarelli. 92mins.

The Mummy (Bubba Ho-Tep) - Bob Ivy.

Also starring Bruce Campbell. Ossie Davis and Ella Joyce.

Elvis Presley and John F. Kennedy are residents in a nursing home, which gets attacked by a reanimated Egyptian mummy.

Elvis: Ask not what your rest home can do for you. Ask what you can do for your rest home.JFK: Hey, you're copying my best lines!Elvis: Then let me paraphrase one of my own. Let's take care of business.JFK: Just what are you getting at, Elvis?Elvis: I think you know what I'm gettin' at Mr. President. We're gonna kill us a mummy.

An instant cult classic by director Don Coscarelli who's main claim to fame were the Phantasm moviies. Bruce Campbell and black actor Ossie Davis are both excellent as the residents claiming to be Elvis and JFK.

IMDB rating 7.2

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)

Brendan Fraser, John Hanna and Maria Bello in The Mummy III (2008)

Jet Li in Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)

The Mummy III: Return of the Yeti (2008)

The Mummy: Tomb of the the Dragon Emperor (2008) Directed by Rob Cohen. 112mins.

Second sequel to The Mummy (1999) but with Stephen Sommers now producing and Rob Cohen taking over as director. Rachel Weisz sadly declined to appear in another one and Maria Bello took over her role. It was fun seeing Hong Kong superstar Jet Li playing the mummy but this was the least successful of the three films.

Comments 5 comments

Wait a minute, So (Sir) Christopher Lee has played Count Dracula, a Mummy, A Wizard, and A Dark Lord of the Sith? That's pretty cool.

Will be adding some the films on your list to my "view, when possible" list.

Voted Up, +1 Interesting, +1 Useful.

Mhatter99 4 years ago from San Francisco

Once again, thanks for this stroll down memory lane.

Steve Lensman 4 years ago from London, England Author

Tonyx35, Mhatter99, thanks for commenting, it is appreciated.

Well I was going to write about mummy at some stage.

Nearly a century old and Christopher Lee is still busy acting, he's back playing Saruman in The Hobbit, which takes place before the white wizard turns to the 'dark side'.

Mummy dearest, not as many mummy films as I expected.

Highest rated is the Karloff classic, lowest rated is Time Walker.

Cogerson 4 years ago from Virginia

You will do anything to get Boris Karloff in your hubs.....lol. Another winning hub from the Steve Lensman's poster collection and personal preference collection. Other the newer ones I have to admit that I have not seen many of the classic Mummy movies....but I am sure that due to your influence I will be fixing that issue in the near future. The lady in the photo of The Mummy's Shroud ...who is she...she seems to have some talent..and I am unable to recognize her.

I have put The Mummy (1932) on my list of movies to watch...I will return to this hub after I have viewed it....thanks for sharing all of this information...voted up and interesting.

Steve Lensman 4 years ago from London, England Author

Thanks for commenting on my mummy's page Bruce, muchas gracias!

Sadly Boris only appeared in one Mummy film but its still the highest rated.

I would recommend you also watch The Mummy's Hand which was the first movie to show a mummy on the move and killing people. A historic movie.

It's been a few years since I saw The Mummy's Shroud but I would hazard a guess that's Elizabeth Sellars getting a massage from Prem the mummy.

The Egyptian Queen in the photo from Blood from the Mummy's Tomb is played by the statuesque Valerie Leon, she appeared in a couple of Bond films - The Spy Who Loved Me and Never Say Never Again.